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I wasted $40k on a fantastic startup idea (2020)

blog.tjcx.me

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Re: I wasted $40k on a fantastic startup idea (2020)

#101

Post by kilroy123 »

elpakal wrote: post #46
ilamont wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's right. A lot of founders don't make it to #3 in your list, or they only get the "make something people want" part. It's not enough. Build something people want and will pay for . Not just say they want. Not just say they'll pay for. Make something that they see and will immediately take out their cash/cc/paypal/venmo and pay for on the spot .

I’m not sure I agree with you about your extra > and will pay for. People want Reddit, people want FB and Insta. Do they pay for those? I’m not saying those are good or realistic models to follow but I think the scale of your product needs to be taken into account with your statement. ie landing millions of users can forgive the lack of a business plan _at that scale_ whereas a SAAS platform targeting B2B customers s…

But the users aren't the customers in those businesses.

The advertisers are.

Re: I wasted $40k on a fantastic startup idea (2020)

#102

Post by altdataseller »

jfengel wrote: post #66
Barrera wrote: post #15

The main reason this didn't work is that the founder didn't identify a customer willing to spend money . A lot of startups fail because they never identify a customer. Or even a problem. This one failed because before writing a line of code the founder did not take the next step and ensure that the prospective customer was willing to spend money on a solution. This is why so many failing startups try to pivot to two-…

That's the fundamental problem of any startup. How can you identify a customer without any product to show them? You can define the existence of a market. You can know that there exists some customer with money and a problem you can solve. But that's not the same as being able to say, "Hey, wait a couple of years while I implement this thing. I don't suppose you'd be interested in paying up front?" Every successful s…

You really need a very deep understanding of the pain points in the industry. If you're solving a problem that you yourself have, that gives you a higher probability that others in the industry has the exact same problem.

Re: I wasted $40k on a fantastic startup idea (2020)

#103

Post by RobertDeNiro »

red0point wrote: post #22

I think the takeaway from the blog post is wrong and comments focusing on building a faster MVP miss the point. Not everything is a startup. This is a research project - and should be approached that way. There should be donors, a foundation, free access to all participants, reputation-building by writing (& publishing in reputable journals / conferences) studies about its efficacy, a board of doctors actually review…

Yeah. Tons of people use Web MD, but its also free. I'm pretty sure I would use glacier MD if given the choice, but if you asked me to pay for it I likely would not.

There is a similar enough service called labdoor. They review protein powders and tell you which one is best. As far as I know it's free and still in business.

The business plan the author came up with here is just bad.

Re: I wasted $40k on a fantastic startup idea (2020)

#104

Post by chefandy »

Barrera wrote: post #15

The main reason this didn't work is that the founder didn't identify a customer willing to spend money . A lot of startups fail because they never identify a customer. Or even a problem. This one failed because before writing a line of code the founder did not take the next step and ensure that the prospective customer was willing to spend money on a solution. This is why so many failing startups try to pivot to two-…

Not an MBA or anything, but IMO startups glossing over their early business practices indicates luck rather than hiding good practices. That touches on another big, counterintuitive trap: listening to successful founder’s personal-myth-derived advice on generating success. Important skills attributed to founders— e.g. recognizing opportunity and talent, vision, etc.— are meaningless without simultaneously having the requisite resources and personal/professional circumstances to act. Chance changes our paths in complex, unknowable ways.

It’s probably not psychologically feasible or even useful for them to precisely examine the unearned factors in their or their company’s success, but so many citing ‘hard work’ as the primary factor proves they don’t try. Implying they committed as much, let some hundreds of times more cognitive, emotional, or physical effort, or even as many hours as an NYC line cook aspiring to be a chef, is laughable. Not discounting these folks’ value, but asserting those with less simply have less ambition or work ethic without providing reasonable points of comparison is justification, not reason.

Re: I wasted $40k on a fantastic startup idea (2020)

#105

Post by fartcannon »

ilamont wrote: post #26
Barrera wrote: post #15

The main reason this didn't work is that the founder didn't identify a customer willing to spend money . A lot of startups fail because they never identify a customer. Or even a problem. This one failed because before writing a line of code the founder did not take the next step and ensure that the prospective customer was willing to spend money on a solution. This is why so many failing startups try to pivot to two-…

That's right. A lot of founders don't make it to #3 in your list, or they only get the "make something people want" part. It's not enough. Build something people want and will pay for . Not just say they want. Not just say they'll pay for. Make something that they see and will immediately take out their cash/cc/paypal/venmo and pay for on the spot .

Then you'll just end up with samey expensive garbage. People don't know what they want until they're told what they want. It's important to create a society where ideas that have no current market can be developed. This is how the future is made. Not by making it aluminum and jacking up the price.

Re: I wasted $40k on a fantastic startup idea (2020)

#106

Post by synergy20 »

Barrera wrote: post #15

The main reason this didn't work is that the founder didn't identify a customer willing to spend money . A lot of startups fail because they never identify a customer. Or even a problem. This one failed because before writing a line of code the founder did not take the next step and ensure that the prospective customer was willing to spend money on a solution. This is why so many failing startups try to pivot to two-…

I have a half-baked product in the making for 4 years but never had enough time (and skill) to fully make it, every time I asked potential customers all of them wanted it right away except I could not finish it. Tried to apply for HN to no avail. I just need some investment(500K should do it in one year) to hire one or two developers to help to ship the product really, but I don't know how, which is why I'm back to work full time these days.

Re: I wasted $40k on a fantastic startup idea (2020)

#107

Post by gxs »

abirch wrote: post #81
gxs wrote: post #23

Out of curiosity - the author never mentioned the most "successful" drug for depression the same way the mentioned naproxen. Did anyone catch what the name of the drug for depression treatment was?

It would depend on tests. Antidepressants work in different ways. If your body is not producing enough serotonin, you'd want drug class x. Or Dopamine a completely different class of drugs.

Was just curious because he seemed to have run that analysis, but didn't provide the results the same way he did for pain killers

Re: I wasted $40k on a fantastic startup idea (2020)

#108

Post by carimura »

whimsicalism wrote: post #35
ilamont wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's right. A lot of founders don't make it to #3 in your list, or they only get the "make something people want" part. It's not enough. Build something people want and will pay for . Not just say they want. Not just say they'll pay for. Make something that they see and will immediately take out their cash/cc/paypal/venmo and pay for on the spot .

I've noticed this a lot - I think people are far too quick to take face-to-face positive feedback at, no pun intended, face value. To me, it seems like a pretty elementary mistake, but I think that oftentimes people are more subconsciously desiring external validation than accurate assessments.

can't remember where I heard this but the advice was basically this: When pitching your idea, and generating excitement, ask for money (or a commitment) on the spot. There's a big difference between saying you'd pay for something, and paying for something.

The flip side is that sometimes it takes awhile to build the perception of value, hence free trials/freemium models. Get people hooked, then ask for $.

There are many ways to be successful (and even more ways to be unsuccessful).

Re: I wasted $40k on a fantastic startup idea (2020)

#109

Post by tomhallett »

Barrera wrote: post #15

The main reason this didn't work is that the founder didn't identify a customer willing to spend money . A lot of startups fail because they never identify a customer. Or even a problem. This one failed because before writing a line of code the founder did not take the next step and ensure that the prospective customer was willing to spend money on a solution. This is why so many failing startups try to pivot to two-…

somewhat implicit in "customer willing to spend money to solve the problem" is: are they willing to spend time to solve the problem right now (integrating your software into their application, migrating to your app, etc). Often times customers will have the problem you can solve, but it's far down on their list of priorities.
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